Moqueca

Ingredients

Fish and marinade

• 1 kgfirm white fish steaks on the bone (badejo, grouper or snapper), 3 cm thick
• Juice of 2 limes
• 4garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tspsalt
• 1 tspblack pepper
• ½ bunchcoriander stalks, chopped

Pot

• 3onions, sliced into 5 mm rings
• 4ripe tomatoes, sliced into rings
• 1red and 1 yellow pepper, sliced into rings
• 400 mlthick coconut milk
• 4 tbspdendê (red palm oil)
• 1 bunchcoriander leaves, chopped
• 4spring onions, sliced
• 1malagueta chilli, whole

Pirão and rice

• 150 gcassava flour (farinha de mandioca)
• 500 mlof the finished moqueca broth
• 600 gcooked white rice

Directions

1. Rub the fish with lime juice, garlic, salt, pepper and the coriander stalks and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.
2. Set a panela de barro (glazed clay pot) or a wide heavy casserole over low heat and film the base with 2 tbsp of the dendê. Tuck the whole chilli into the side and pour over the coconut milk and the marinade, plus enough water to come halfway up.
3. Cover, bring to a bare simmer over medium-low heat, and cook 15 to 20 minutes. Do not stir at any point; shake the pot gently by the handles if you must move things.
4. Spoon over the remaining 2 tbsp dendê, scatter the coriander leaves and spring onion, and take the pot straight to the table still bubbling. For the pirão, ladle 500 ml of the hot broth into a small pan over low heat and rain in the cassava flour while whisking hard for 3 to 4 minutes until it thickens to a smooth, loose porridge.
5. Serve moqueca with rice and pirão.

Technique

• Dendê is not optional in a moqueca baiana — it supplies the orange colour, the faintly savoury African note and the aroma of the dish. Use the unrefined red kind and add half at the end so its perfume survives.
• The clay pot is genuinely functional: it heats slowly and evenly and holds the heat so the fish keeps cooking gently at the table. In a metal pan, drop the heat and shorten the time by a few minutes.
• Fish on the bone, cut thick, is what stops moqueca falling apart. Fillets will work but disintegrate if you touch them.

Substitutions

• Prawns, or a mixture of prawns and fish, are entirely traditional and cook in 6 to 8 minutes rather than 20.
• If you cannot find dendê, use 2 tbsp neutral oil coloured with 1 tsp annatto — you get the colour but you should know the flavour is not the same.

Variations

• Moqueca capixaba from Espírito Santo uses neither coconut milk nor dendê: only annatto oil, tomato, onion and coriander, cooked in the unglazed black clay pots of Goiabeiras.
• Moqueca de banana da terra swaps plantain for the fish and is common in Bahia during Lent.

History

Fish stew claimed by both Bahia, with dendê and coconut milk, and Espirito Santo, cooked in a clay pot with urucum and no palm oil.

Frequently asked questions

What is Moqueca?

Moqueca is a soup & stew from Brazil: fish simmered with coconut milk, dendê oil and peppers in clay pot. Fish stew claimed by both Bahia, with dendê and coconut milk, and Espirito Santo, cooked in a clay pot with urucum and no palm oil.

How long does Moqueca take to make?

Moqueca takes 30 min plus 30 min marinating of preparation and 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Moqueca?

Yes, within limits. Prawns, or a mixture of prawns and fish, are entirely traditional and cook in 6 to 8 minutes rather than 20. If you cannot find dendê, use 2 tbsp neutral oil coloured with 1 tsp annatto — you get the colour but you should know the flavour is not the same.

What is the most important thing to get right in Moqueca?

Set a panela de barro (glazed clay pot) or a wide heavy casserole over low heat and film the base with 2 tbsp of the dendê. Tuck the whole chilli into the side and pour over the coconut milk and the marinade, plus enough water to come halfway up.